Hussein Bikar

Collection of Aziz Qadri (acquired directly from the artist)
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2000s

Sobhy El Sharouny and Ramadan Abdel Kader, Hussein Bikar, Cairo, 2002, p.98, illustrated in colour 

Condition: This work is in good condition. Few scattered signs of scuff across the black and red areas, in line with the age of the painting. Some areas the varnish is faded. Some minor scratches to the upper section of the painting and some minute paint loss alongside the upper and right edge of the board. A faint water stain on the white figure. No sign of restoration under the UV light. Colours: The colours in the catalgue illustration are accurate, with the overall tonality being softer in the original work.
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“Egypt is not Cairo; it is not even the northern town and villages. No, it lies in the depths of the South where the relics of the Pharaohs are found. The native Southerners have not mingled with the foreigners who came to Egypt; they are Egyptians through and through.”

Hussein Bicar

Sotheby’s is honoured to be offering a seminal work by Hussein Bikar from his Nubia series entitled Palm Trees and the Mountain in Nubia. With a striking colour palette of red, black and white aligning with the colours of the Egyptian flag – was Bikar insinuating a nationalist allusion or a critique ? Bikar was greatly affected by the displacement of the Nubian population, following the construction of the Aswan High Dam. The evacuation of Nubia and the population led to the destruction of their cultural and architectural heritage.

Like the father of modern Egyptian sculpture, Mahmoud Mokhtar, fellow artist, Hussein Bikar believed in returning the art to the Egyptian roots. They both rejected the Romanization of Egypt and the Europeanization of the Egyptian national identity.  A renaissance man - Bikar was innumerably talented; besides being a painter, he was also a gifted teacher, illustrator, poet, art critic, musician and journalist. Palm Trees and the Mountain in Nubia is a beautiful example of Bikar’s ability to deliver a profound message through minimal lines and striking portrayals of a lost Nubia.